Not everyone enjoys porters, stouts, and other dark, robust beers. Some beer fans prefer their beer a little lighter and a lot hoppier. And these bold beer drinkers opt for higher alcohol, warming imperial IPAs instead.
For those who don’t know, an imperial IPA is ostensibly the same thing as a double IPA. While there are no specific ingredient-based specifications, these types of IPAs are known for their cranked-up flavor and heightened alcohol content. This IPA style is known to be between 6 and 9% ABV, with a ton of piney, dank, floral, bold hop aromas and flavors, yet usually with less bitterness than classic West Coast IPAs.
When it comes to choices for fall imperial IPAs, they are plentiful. There are myriad bold, hoppy, high-ABV imperial IPAs available almost everywhere. Just check out your favorite grocery store, beer store, or online retailer and we’re sure you’ll find a few. But to help you out, we listed and ranked eight of our favorites below.
8) Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA
ABV: 9%
Average Price: $11.99 for a six-pack
The Beer:
If you’re a fan of New Belgium’s beers, you’re probably fairly well-acquainted with the brand’s skeleton-adorned Voodoo Ranger series. One of the best of the bunch (especially for fall drinking) is Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA. It’s brewed with ale yeast and Pale and Black malts, and gets its bold, hoppy flavor from the addition of Delta, Bravo, Centennial, Cascade, Calypso, and Mosaic hops.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is surprisingly light for an imperial IPA but has some grapefruit, pine needles, and light tropical fruits. The palate is fairly generic with pine, caramel malts, and some citrus. There’s a kick of herbal, floral, slightly bitter hops. Overall, not very exciting, but also not bad either. Just meh.
Bottom Line:
Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA is not a bad beer. It’s also not a great, flavorful beer either. It’s a bit muted and generic tasting.
7) Rogue Colossal Claude
ABV: 8.2%
Average Price: $10.99 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Colossal Claude (also known as Marvin the Monster) is a Loch Ness-like sea monster that’s been purported to be found in Oregon’s Columbia river. This beer, brewed with Cascade, Citra, Chinook, and Strata hops takes its name from this mythical creature that hasn’t been seen since the 1960s.
Tasting Notes:
Muted notes of pine needles, citrus rind, bready malts, and herbal, lightly floral hops make up the nose. It’s not overly inviting, and sadly, the palate continues this trend. Once again, there are notes of fresh pine needles, but not enough. There are also flavors of grapefruit, tangerine, and lightly caramel malts. All in all, more diluted and waterier than you’d hope from an imperial IPA.
Bottom Line:
Once again, the flavors are in place. Pine, malts, citrus — it has everything imperial IPA fans enjoy. It’s just a little more subdued than I’d hope.
6) Redhook Big Ballard
ABV: 8.6%
Average Price: $8.50 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Named for the original brewery located in a former auto repair shop in Seattle’s Ballard District, Big Ballard IPA is known for its mix of malt and hop presence, being brewed with Pale, Munich, and Carmel 40 malts as well as Alchemy, Chinook, Cascade, HBC-431, Centennial, Mosaic, and Eureka hops.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a ton of pine on the nose, some citrus, but also a lot of caramel malt aroma. The palate is loaded with bready malts, light caramel, tangerine, grapefruit, and herbal, earthy pine. The finish is dry and a mix of sweetness and bitterness. A great beer, just a little too sweet and malty for my liking.
Bottom Line:
I understand the need for more of a malt presence in an imperial IPA. But I prefer my imperial IPAs to be a little more hop-centered and less sweet than Redhook Big Ballard.
5) Great Divide Hercules
ABV: 10%
Average Price: $12.99 for a six-pack
The Beer:
You must know that if you name your beer “Hercules,” it better be an aggressive, high-alcohol banger. That’s exactly what Great Divide Hercules is. This award-winning, 9.5% ABV imperial IPA is brewed with Chinook, Centennial, Amarillo, and Cascade hops.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a ton of citrus on this beer’s nose with aromas like lemongrass, tangerine, and grapefruit. There are also bready and caramel malts, and lightly herbal, spicy, floral, and piney hops. Drinking it reveals even more flavor with more caramel malt along with grapefruit, orange peels, fresh grass, and bold, bright, dank pine. Even with the bold hop presence, it’s surprisingly well-balanced.
Bottom Line:
This beer is high in alcohol, but not overly boozy tasting. It’s also a well-balanced IPA featuring bright, floral, piney hops and sweet malts in equal measure.
4) Flying Dog The Truth
ABV: 8.7%
Average Price: $11.99 for a six-pack
The Beer:
If you’re a fan of Flying Dog, you’re probably also a fan of the iconic artwork adorning its labels for the last 30-plus years. You can thank British artist and Hunter Thompson contemporary Ralph Steadman for that. Its imperial IPA is called The Truth and has one of the more unique, if not nightmarish images on its bottles and cans. The beer inside lives up to its over-the-top imagery with a bevy of hops including Warrior, Summit, Columbus, Citra, and Amarillo.
Tasting Notes:
A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. Ripe pineapple, mango, grapefruit, wet grass, lemon, and fresh pine make an appearance. Sipping it brings forth notes of caramel malts, grapefruit, pineapple, tangerine, stone, fruit, and lightly bitter, dank pine. The finish is a nice mix of spice and sweetness that leaves you craving more.
Bottom Line:
Flying Dog did a good job of using its imperial IPA to highlight flavors like caramel malts, bright citrus zest, juicy tropical fruits, and bold pine.
3) Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA
ABV: 9%
Average Price: $8.99 for a four-pack
The Beer:
There are few imperial IPAs more well-known than Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA. Before everyone and their uncle had a craft brewery, drinkers used to seek out beers like this one. It gets its herbal, earthy, piney, memorable flavor from the use of industry-changing continual hopping — a process of adding a steady amount of hops through out the cook rather than one big dump in the beginning and end, as other brews had been doing.
Tasting Notes:
When nosing, you’re met with a bouquet of grapefruit zest, tangerine, bready, caramel malts, and a wallop of herbal, piney hops. The palate is a hop enthusiasts’ dream. It’s wave after wave of pine, resin, and dank hops paired with tangerine, lemon, tropical fruits, and lightly sweet malts. Lightly bitter and the finish and surprisingly balanced.
Bottom Line:
The use of continual hopping gives this beer amazing hop aromas and flavors without adding an aggressive amount of bitterness. It’s a classic imperial IPA that needs to be added to your bucket list immediately if you haven’t yet tried it.
2) Cigar City Florida Man
ABV: 8.5%
Average Price: $12.99 for a six-pack
The Beer:
If you have a computer, you’re probably familiar with the “Florida Man” phenomenon. This imperial IPA from Cigar City brewing pays homage to that most wild of American archetypes, and is brewed with Citra, Azacca, El Dorado, and Mandarina Bavarian hops.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is filled with aromas like mango, peaches, pineapple, papaya, caramel malts, and herbal, floral, slightly piney hops. There’s more of this flavor action on the palate with more tropical fruits, stone fruits, tangerine, pineapple, honey malts, and dank, resinous pine. It’s a nice mix of juicy fruity flavor, citrus, and slightly bitter, dank pine.
Bottom Line:
When it comes to tropical and citrus-filled imperial IPAs, it’s tough to beat Cigar City Florida Man. As if that weren’t enough, it also has a nice malt backbone and vibrant, resinous pine as well.
1) Deschutes Royal Fresh
ABV: 9%
Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Deschutes is the kind of brewery where we can’t ever seem to find a beer that isn’t a winner. Deschutes Royal Fresh is no exception. This year-round, juicy monster of a beer is brewed with 2-row and acidulated malts as well as wheat and oats. It gets its hop presence from the addition of Cascade, Citra, Mosaic, Centennial, Amarillo, El Dorado, and Cashmere.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of candied pineapple, clover honey, mango, papaya, ripe peaches, bready malts, and fragrant pine meet your nostrils before your first sip. Drinking it reveals notes of sweet wheat, caramel malts, tart grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, and piney, resinous hops. The finish is a nice mix of sweetness and bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This is a big, bold fruity, piney imperial IPA that’s so loaded with aroma and flavor, you’ll need to sample it multiple times (and you’ll be happy to) to find them all.
